...…..
After a few minutes more of walking inside the deep caverns of a mysterious beast lair, Azmodeus found himself next to a colossal hill.
Sitting in the middle of a group of dripping stalactites, they drizzled droplets of water onto the hill from the roof.
There was a single ray of light shining down from a hole in the roof that seemed to stretch all the way to the outside world.
This ray of light was focused on the very top of the vast hill that sat beneath the stalactites, seemingly absorbing the water that drizzled down constantly.
"Hmm…"
Azmodeus looked around him and saw no more tunnels besides the one he just came out of. Thus, it was pretty clear that this was where the beast was, but why didn't he see anything even remotely beast-like?
Am I missing something here…? Maybe some sort of cloaking monster??
He scrutinized his surroundings with a sharp gaze, attempting to find any signs of a large monster or spiritual beast.
And that was when…
RUMBLE!!
The hill in the middle of the room started to tremble, causing rocks to fall from the roof.
And after a few seconds of this quaking, in the place where the hill used to be, there was an enormous, four-legged dragon-like creature with both of its bridge-sized eyes. Staring down at the tiny creature who invaded its home, it looked ready to pounce.
"Oh… So the hill was a… Yeah, that makes sense. But why couldn't I feel your presence even while I was using a divine sense that only someone in the Middle Void Refining Realm would possess?"
Azmodeus had already understood what was going on here, but he was still a little perplexed by the fact that even when the beast was right next to him, he couldn't feel the slightest bit of its existence…
It was like the beast existed, yet it didn't at the same time.
"...."
The dragon-like beast had its sinuous gaze focused on the small human; it wondered how someone was capable of coming down to the depths of its home.
"Hurrghhh…" It grumbled with a far less intimidating growl.
"???" Azmodeus looked into the sinuous eyes of the beast and realized that it was trying to say something.
"What is it? Are you lost too?"
"..."
The Drake already realized that this was going to be troublesome to explain without speaking the same language.
And it was correct, as after a few minutes of getting nowhere in their conversation, Azmodeus decided to switch things up as he took out a sigil tablet he created earlier that day.
The sigil was a light blue and green color and had a mysterious jumble of symbols on the center of its four-inch-long body.
Above the symbols and hieroglyphics were a series of words in cursive that read 'Beast Taming Contract' in the human language.
"This is a Beast Taming Contract. But don't worry, for it is just a temporary 50/50 contract and will die off the moment we both agree that we don't want to use it anymore," he explained with a small smile.
"..."
The Drake didn't understand what the human was saying, but it didn't sense any bad intentions in his voice. So, in the end, it decided to go along with whatever the human was talking about.
Azmodeus got his confirmation. Therefore, he immediately walked up to the bent-down head of the beast and uttered a few indecipherable words in a language that was used very rarely among those living in Prometheus.
After getting out a few incantations, a bright blue and gold light flashed as the sigil that he was holding exploded before dispersing and becoming some sort of blue particle mass. After which, all of it swarmed toward both his body and the body of the dragon-like creature.
Following this phenomenon, an equally dazzling light was emitted from both of their figures. Thereafter, the Drake's large black and purple scales shimmered a little, resulting in a resplendant display of brilliant lights and colors!
It took a few seconds for the light to die out, but once it did, everything appeared to become clearer for both users of the contract.
They looked at each other and seemed to be able to see the 'essence's' emitting from them.
"This is…" The Drake murmured with an oddly feminine voice, her mouth agape as she gawked at the essence of the human in front of her.
Big was an understatement for what she was seeing, as it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he had the biggest she had ever seen!
Dragons and some of their purer-blooded descendants were usually able to see the essences of other beings of the same race. However, never in the thousands of years that she had been walking the planet had she ever seen an essence so big!
"What are you…" She muttered while watching the sun-like figure approach her head.
"!!!"
She became nervous and backed up a little, but it made no difference for Azmodeus.
FWIP!
He phased in front of her and extended out his terrifying hand.
"P-Please don't kill me-!"
Nao Long tried to plead for her life. However, she was swiftly interrupted by the hand making contact with her lower lip.
She expected to die right then and there!
But contrary to her expectations…
*Pat Pat*
"It's nice to meet you, Nao Long. You received the same information as I did, so you should be familiar with my name as well, right?"
Azmodeus's firm hand touched down on her lip as he started tenderly caressing her.
"?????" Nao Long was beyond confused, as she could've sworn that she was within an inch of death after taking on the brunt force of his suffocating essence pressure-
"Wait! Where has your Essence gone to??" She suddenly exclaimed, her eyes focused on an aura that was no longer there.
Azmodeus looked up at the jittery Drake as he chuckled a little for the first time in ages. Then, he said, "You made it seem like my essence was scaring you, so I decided to conceal it for now."
"...."
Nao Long gazed into that slightly playful gaze of his. Sweat dripped down her giant forehead before she stuttered, "Y-Yesh, well, I knew that already! As expected of me, a dragon!"
"Sure, sure." He agreed with a slight head nod before asking, "And aren't you a Drake?"
"Uhn uh! I'm a dragon! Just look at these wings of mine!"
She pulled out her two large wings with their beautiful shades of black and purple, wearing a smug look on her face.
"I see…"
That was all Azmodeus had to say in response to the narcissistic and mildly delulu personality of this Drake.
"Anywho, are you looking to get out of this place?" He questioned.
Hearing the human's question made Nao Long realize what she originally wanted to ask him. Thus, she said, "Hungry!"
"Hungry…?"
"Yesh! I want some good food!"
Nao Long's wings fluttered around a little, while her tail swung around behind her with a mind of its own.
She's sort of like a puppy…
Azmodeus couldn't help but compare the funny Drake to a household pet, as he decided to take out a few size-reducing runes.
After this point, we make it back to the present day.
It was a point in time in which the troublesome dragon had already become exceedingly comfortable with the hardworking, immortal-like man who cultivated almost 99% of the time…
...….